Gerald R. Ford-class Nuclear Aircraft Carrier
The Gerald R. Ford-class nuclear aircraft carriers are some of the most advanced aircraft carriers of the 21st Century. Originally, they were slow and less armed but are now better at defense and anti-aircraft skills. History The Ford-class was under development by the United States Navy ever since the USS Nimitz ''(CVN-68) was commissioned. While the name of the class was not decided at the time, it was known as the CVN-21 Program. In 2006, Gerald R. Ford III, who just got promoted to captain, was with his dying grandfather, former U.S. President Gerald Ford, in Michigan where he got the perfect name for the class. After his death, he suggested to the Secretary of the Navy to name CVN-78 after the late president, which was accepted. CVN-79 was originally gonna be named either ''Arizona on the anniversary of the Pearl Harbor attack in 2007, or Barry M. Goldwater, the late Arizona senator, in 2009. It was later announced as John F. Kennedy ''in 2011. Construction of the ''Ford ''would not begin until December 1, 2012, the same day USS ''Enterprise (CVN-65) was inactivated, when the keel was laid and steel started to form the hull. That same day, CVN-80 was announced to be named Enterprise, continuing on the legacy of the historic name. Construction went at a really fast pace for CVN-78 and was 75% completed by the end of 2013. Kennedy ''was laid down on November 22, 2013, the 50th anniversary of the Kennedy assasination, and was 30% completed on New Years Day 2014. ''Gerald R. Ford ''was launched and christened on February 13, 2014, and was commissioned on September 1 with Commodore Ford in command. Two days after, the ship joined the Armada of Freedom, the navy Ford was welcomed to, where he became a fleet admiral (he gave his possition to Alexander Kovalev when he joined, and became an Upper Rear Admiral). ''Gerald R. Ford first saw action in the AEON Invasion of New Belkan as the fleet's command ship. During construction, John F. Kennedy was given two Mk 45 5" turrets, a 5" double barrel turret, 8 Harpoon missile launchers and an advanced flight deck design which gave the Navy an idea. The Ford ''returned to Newport News on October 2nd along with the battleships ''Hawaii and America to be refitted. On the night prior to her scheduled completion, a bolt of lightning hit the carrier island along with several pieces of equiptment, causing the equiptment and the second flight deck turret to explode. Repairs were completed four days later and the ship was launched back into the James River. That same day, the Kennedy ''was commissioned followed by the relaunching of the two ''Hawaii-class ships. At the ceremony, an AF admiral was there to commission CVN-79 into the Armadian fleet. They later rejoined the fleet to participate in Aneph's AIF Breakout Campaign. On November 12, 2014, U.S Commodore Gareth Proud launched and commissioned his addition to the Ford-class: USS Theodore Ball (CVN-81). Unlike her sister ships, she is the largest ship in the class and is the first Flight II variant. She also is the only ship that didn't serve with her sisters in the AF. In late December, the four Ford-class ships currently active at that time were tasked with providing air support for the United Aerospace Command's combined assault on the Prometheus Corporation, known as Operation: Overlord (classified as Operation: Overlord II by the Pentagon to prevent confusion with the World War II operation of the same name in 1944). On New Years Eve, the Ford, Kennedy, Enterprise and Ball were at Naval Station Arcadia in the AIF city of Arcadia with a portion of the AF fleet to warp straight to their target on Neo-Earth. The mission was unexpectedly shelved by the UAC when leaders of the Dragonfire Privateering League Timothy Dragoon and Trinity Winters feuded over leadership in the fleet, which later lead to the DPL Civil War. Some time after it was put on hold, it later gave way to the Sol System Alliance, which would lead the nations of Earth when Operation: Overlord is reactivated. The entire Ford-class would later rejoin when the United States would join the SSA. On January 23, 2015, the Ford-class ships in the AF were decommissioned from Armadian service under the request of Admiral Ford, who resigned to spend more time with the US Navy. When the Federation emerged within the United States, triggering the start of World War V, numberous naval battles occured across the country. During the Battle of San Diego, Theodore Ball was present with her battlegroup and was tasked with defending the city alongside the Reagan-Charger Battlegroup. The Ball's bridge was hit by a Fed-loyal AC-130 gunship, severely crippling the ship and killing Commodore Proud in the process. On August 31, 2015, Fleet Admiral Marc Patton travelled to Los Angeles to recieve command of the Enterprise, and Admiral Jack Tyler Harmon changed it's homeport to Norfolk. Numberous ships for the class were announced, dividing the ships into three Flight variants and making them the first class of carriers since the Essex-class to have more than ten ships. Ships in Class Trivia *This is the only class of ships in the United States Navy to be commanded by each member of the "Big Three" (the current top three leaders in the fleet, consisting of Harmonmj13, ProudAmerican1776, and Marcboy99). *It took 16 days in real life for Harmonmj13 to rebuild the ship in Hansa. **During the first Hansa rebuild, USS Enterprise CVN-65 allowed Harmonmj13 to use the All Under Heaven's hull design, which he credited. *The Ford-class is one of the five classes that Harmonmj13 scratch built that is based off a real life vessel (the others are the Los Angeles, Albany, Fletcher, Arleigh Burke ''and ''Virginia). *In RP, Gerald R. Ford brought several aircraft and land vehicles from the US to the AF when commissioned. *There are a good number of facts about CVN-81 and Flight II: ** Theodore Ball was the only Ford-class carrier to not serve in the Armada of Freedom. ** Before Proud commissioned the Ted Ball, Harmon originally planned to have CVN-81 be named USS Liberator (CVN-81), after the fictional Ford-class carrier in the video game Call of Duty: Ghosts. **''Theodore Ball'' is named after a relative of Proud. **''Patrick McElvogue'' is the only ship to serve in both NORAD and the U.S. Navy. **Most of the Flight II Fords are named after friends of Proud. **''Ernest R. Evans is named after the commander of the USS Johnston, an American destroyer sunk during the Battle of Leyte Gulf. **Within the list of names of the Flight IIs, Prouds real name is featured. He did this for no reason at all. **Proud initially did not want anymore than two Flight IIs, mainly for his own reasons. Marc, however, managed to convince him to make more. **''Theodore Ball's motto is "Unfair Advantage". * Gerald R. Ford was the only ship to have two homeports. * Two carriers were built as prototypes for the Ford-class refit, named Freedom and Liberator, '' were planned to become CVN-82 and CVN-83. They would later be stolen by IRF member Marcus Ackerman, renamed to the ''Deathstroke-class, and refitted with a VLS launcher and two more aircraft catapults. *Two ships are named after former Illinois governors; Adlai Stevenson and Dan Walker. **''Adlai Stevenson'''s homeport was assigned to Los Angeles, the city where the 31st governor was born. Category:Vessel Classes by Harmonmj13 Category:United States Ships Category:Aircraft Carriers Category:Vessel Classes by ProudAmerican1776 Category:Real Life Vessels Category:Vessel Classes by Marcboy99